Monday, May 21, 2012

Heart 2 Heart Challenges: Distressing

This week's Heart 2 Heart challenge was an easy one for me! I love to distress most of my projects! You can too; it's easy. (Once you've gotten your stress relieved with some distressing techniques, post your project over on the H2H challenge blog. We love to see your work!)

For my card, I started with an Olive standard-size side-fold card base. I used some sandpaper to distress the card front. I sanded first diagonally one way and then diagonally in the opposite way. I think this technique gives the base a linen or denim look. (Enlarge it to see what I mean.)

Next, I stamped the sunflower image from the May stamp of the month (Friendship Bouquet) in Chocolate onto the Colonial White square. Then, I used the direct-to-paper inking technique to distress the edges. (I also used this same technique on the sentiment plaque, cut with the Cricut & CTMH Art Philosphy cartridge.)

To distress the Chocolate panel, I pulled out my trusty scissors and ran them along the edge to expose the white core.

Finally, I used a sponge to color the sunflower quickly with Honey ink. A sponge is another great distressing tool! I finished off the card with a wooden button, some hemp, and two Mocha Opaques.

Now, go check out what the other H2H designers have in store for you this week. You've got all month to play along with any of our May challenges, so get cracking and get crafty!